Date Released: Sep 10, 2013

Bitrate: Variable

Contributor

09.10.13

Arctic Monkeys, AM

2013 | Label: Domino Recording Co

Hangovers happen. The Arctic Monkeys — the brash British band led by the acid-voiced, silver-tongued Alex Turner — know this all too well. Their inaugural single hinged on a dancefloor fantasy; the lead single from their last album was hatched at a bar. The title of their fifth album, AM, could be seen as an attempt to get back to basics by going the acronymic route; but the bleary-eyed, moving-through-swamp feel makes it seem like… read more »

Contributor

09.10.13

Arctic Monkeys, AM

2013 | Label: Domino Recording Co

Hangovers happen. The Arctic Monkeys — the brash British band led by the acid-voiced, silver-tongued Alex Turner — know this all too well. Their inaugural single hinged on a dancefloor fantasy; the lead single from their last album was hatched at a bar. The title of their fifth album, AM, could be seen as an attempt to get back to basics by going the acronymic route; but the bleary-eyed, moving-through-swamp feel makes it seem like a direction to play the album in the morning, preferably while you’re trying to figure out the coming hours through the headachy haze of what happened the night before.

The world-weariness of AM is akin to that possessed by other great rock records of 2013 (Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails). The woozy “No. 1 Party Anthem” pokes fun at the YOLO mentality, Turner delivering the titular phrase with ennui so deliberate as to make the curl of his sneer audible. “R U Mine?” is a stormy barnburner, its chugging guitars and ghostly backing vocals making Turner’s expressed desire to transcend the dissatisfaction offered by one-night stands all the more urgent. And the callbacks to “War Pigs” that offset the rapid-fire love poetry of “Arabella” serve as an explicit reminder that love can be a battlefield.

AM is not just a scene-setter for darker times, though. Turner’s lyrics are full of longing and wit, a combination made even more potent by his chainsaw of a voice; the band’s devotion to minor keys only increases the potency of the oohs and ahs that periodically descend from the heavens. Those moments of clarity provide a riposte to any “is that all there is” ennui; the answer is clearly no, if only because of the great music that results from bleakly honest surveillance of these depraved times.

AM

So rad

AM

AM

Their first album was great. For a first album it was awesome, but this album is a true classic. There are many moments which the listener will want to relive. Many of the songs have similar themes, both of the musical and lyrical varieties, but that doesn't stop them from being excellent. If you want to pick one song from the album to try, just to see if you like it, try Arabella. If you listen to Arabella three times, and you don't like it there could be something wrong with you. There are moments of old Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and others. It all fits so well. God bless the Arctic Monkeys.

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